This event will take place at 4:30pm PDT/6:30pm CDT. Not in PDT or CDT? Check your time zone.
Join Dr. Chris Stacey for a discussion of the boycott movement against the Chicago Public schools in the early 1960s. On October 22, 1963, at least 224,770 students boycotted the Chicago Public Schools and 10,000 people marched on City Hall. The movement sustained itself into 1964 when 175,000 students boycotted the Chicago Public Schools and 4,000 people marched on City Hall. In this presentation we will examine the factors contributing to the school boycott movement, what happened on the days of the boycott, the response from Mayor Richard J. Daley, and social and political outcomes. To conclude, we will discuss the boycott’s historical legacy. Was it “a pivotal moment in the movement for racial and social justice in this country” as community organizer Jay Travis claimed or was it “useless and ineffective in forcing change” as Chicago historians Anderson and Pickering concluded?